Retail

Ackermans wanted to automate the merchandise planning process all the way to allocating the right level of stock in each store. Not only has Ackermans increased the productivity and scope of its allocation process, but today the retailer has increased confidence that the right products are being sent to the right stores.

Five key strategies that industry stakeholders can leverage to successfully serve Generation C shoppers to achieve profitability and growth.

Needing to create closer consumer relationships, while also supporting the increased transactional needs associated with the company's aggressive growth plans, the specialty retailer again turned to JDA Software, this time to implement an improved point-of-sale (POS) system.

Companies face a myriad of choices when it comes to selecting the right technology to support their supply chains. According to Tim Payne, Gartner Group's research director, the technology a company chooses all depends on where that company is in its supply chain journey. From the FocusConnect 2011 General Session main stage in London, Payne provided a packed room of supply chain professionals with guidance to help make the task easier.

Whether a product's lifecycle is two months or two years, there are three key phases of pricing that must be managed strategically in order to maximize ultimate profitability: everyday pricing, promotional pricing and markdown pricing. In order to apply pricing as a strategic tool, retailers cannot apply a one-size-fits-all pricing approach — but must apply the right price at exactly the right time in order to support shopper loyalty and long-term profitability.

Today, more than ever, retailers' mission-critical objective is to gain a greater understanding of who their customers are, what they buy, how they shop and in which channels. They must also view assortments comprehensively across all functional aspects including planning, supply chain, pricing and visual merchandising.

Cloud computing offers dynamic capabilities, such as flexible configurations, as well as ubiquitous user access from every geographic location and time zone. For core business activities such as transportation scheduling, warehouse management and point-of-sale (POS) data collection, cloud computing is ideally suited to manage extremely large data volumes and multiple collaborative relationships across the supply chain, seamlessly and invisibly.

Wrigley chose to implement JDA Space & Category Management solutions, which would enable the company to manage a large volume of retail planograms, fixtures, floor plans, store/cluster data, product attributes and performance information.

JDA solutions have enabled Shoppers Stop to maintain its high customer service levels during its exponential growth. "We are trying to ensure that, when customers come into our stores, they find the merchandise they are looking for, at the right place and at the right price," said Gupta. "When they check out, they get the best promotion for that category of merchandise. A lot of that performance is attributable to the JDA solutions we have deployed."

At an average of over 20,000 square feet each, DSW retail stores feature approximately 24,000 pairs of shoes and accessories such as handbags and hosiery. While this store format seems large, the fixed capacity of its branded retail locations, as well as its leased shoe departments, has created a strategic challenge. For DSW, this means specifically targeting assortments to the needs of shoppers in each market. With limited back rooms in which to keep excess merchandise, store inventories must be managed to an exacting degree.

Enhance profit, deliver against category goals, efficiently move product and satisfy customers. These business objectives are growing more difficult to achieve with today's increasingly limited retail floor space and complex consumer shopping habits. To succeed in a selling environment characterized by mobile commerce and consumers that browse and shop various channels, retailers must reexamine their strategies and processes to maximize the consumer shopping experience and avoid missed sales.

A panel of leading supply chain practitioners convened at FOCUS 2011, JDA's annual global conference, to discuss supply chain management best practices. Moderated by Kevin O'Marah, Gartner, Inc.'s group vice president of supply chain research, the FOCUS 2011 General Session included panelists from Lowe's Companies, Dell, Meijer, Sony and Stanley Black & Decker.

JDA Software's annual Real Results Awards recognize companies that leverage advanced solutions and services to tackle their greatest business challenges and create new value for their organizations.

In today's digital world, where real-time information is readily available to almost everyone, consumer buying behavior is influenced less and less by the retailer or brand owner. Instead, it is driven by the consumers themselves. Using a powerful mobile device, a consumer can simply scan a product and instantly receive information about availability and price options that influence the buying decision. Instant access to product reviews and interaction with digital social communities can further influence consumers' choices at an exponential rate. This means that new trends can now emerge overnight, instead of over weeks or months.

Every retailer seeks to think globally, while acting locally in order to capitalize on consumer preferences. But how can retailers overcome disconnects between individual stores and corporate operations, along with the logistical challenges of moving specialized assortments? JDA's Scott Welty outlines a number of successful strategies for aligning top-level merchandising goals with a targeted approach at the store level. From customized assortments based on demographics to more strategic store layouts, leading retailers are using these strategies to thrive in an uncertain economy.

U.S.-based Hibbett Sports operates 767 stores in 24 states, selling apparel, shoes and sporting goods to local schools and sports leagues. Despite the economic downturn, Hibbett realized a 5.2 percent sales increase in 2010. Hibbett uses multiple JDA solutions — including JDA Allocation, JDA Merchandise Management System, JDA Performance Analysis, JDA Advanced Store Replenishment, JDA Enterprise Planning, JDA Channel Clustering and JDA Size Scaling — to create localized assortments while carrying minimal inventory, maximizing the impact of its 5,000-square-foot stores.

Realizing it needed to replace its aging point-of-sale system to improve demand visibility at the store level, streamline everyday cash register functions and comply with credit card processing standards, Wilsons Leather relied on its long-time relationship with technology provider JDA. Today, using JDA Point-of-Sale, the outerwear, apparel, handbag and accessory retailer has a centralized, real-time and network-wide view of sales at every store, processes transactions much faster and drives improved consumer satisfaction.

A $3.3 billion department store chain with more than 420 stores in Africa and the Middle East, Woolworths Holdings Limited is a supply chain leader, especially in the areas of demand planning, allocation and replenishment management. When the company needed to take another critical capability — inventory and range planning — to the next level it turned to JDA. Learn how the company is using JDA Buying & Assortment Management to stock merchandise on a "just in time" basis, dramatically reducing reserve stock and achieving significant cost savings.

For nearly 20 years Ace Hardware Corporation, the world's largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative, has relied on a range of JDA solutions - including JDA Advanced Warehouse Replenishment, JDA Seasonal Profiling, JDA Marketplace Replenish, JDA Demand and JDA Fulfillment - to support its industry-leading business innovations. Discover how this award-winning retailer is leveraging both JDA solutions and services to transform its supply chain by strategically managing vendor relationships, sharpening forecasts and slashing inventories.

What can companies do to prepare for the 2010 holiday shopping season? Last year, an unexpected uptick in consumer shopping surprised many retailers, leading to stock-outs and lost sales. JDA's Wayne Usie outlines several merchandising, supply chain and store operations strategies that retailers can adopt to maximize in-store and online sales while keeping inventory low this season.